A new law on higher education came into effect in North Rhine-Westphalia on 1 April 2000, setting a new direction, based in law, that should and will lay the foundations for a revamping of higher education in this state. Since the 1990s, the critical debates that are part of the general German discussion on higher education have shown a more emphatic turn toward business. This has altered permanently and decisively the traditional notion of the university. The traditional autonomy of the university is reinterpreted to embrace an "orientation to the client and to demand," but it is also reinforced structurally by legislation giving a broader range of action in "pedagogical work, more freedom in matters of financing, administration and staffing, and more cooperation with partners close to ... colleges and universities, as well as more competition among the latter themselves". The quality of research and teaching is situated, as part and parcel of internationalization and globalization, in the context of Europewide and indeed worldwide competition. In this article, the author discusses the opportunities and risks of competition in higher education. [This report was translated by Stephen D. Naron.]